How The Site Was Built

How the Site is Built

This site was built in Macromedia's Dreamweaver using templates and Cascading Style Sheets. Templates were used in construction to the control common elements of every page throughout the site. Cascading Style Sheets were used to control the display of copy.

Folder/DirectoryStructure

For best results, this new site should be edited in Dreamweaver against a complete copy of the entire site. That copy must include all pages and directories that define the Rethinking Schools web site. This directory structure is one level higher than the "www" directory that appears on the server.

The top level site directory as defined in Dreamweaver must include these folders:

• "cgi" - appears on the server, not used for HTML editing
  
  
• "Templates" - used only in Dreamweaver - does NOT appear on the server
  
  
• "www" - appears on the server - contains all HTML files for the web site
  
  
• "_notes" - used only in Dreamweaver - does NOT appear on the server

Most of the files that define the web site appear in the folder/directory "www" within these sub-folders:

• "about" - contains HTML & PDF files about Rethinking Schools
  
  
• "archive" - includes all past issues of the journal, including the Index of Articles
  
  
• "img" - includes ALL GIF and JPEG graphics for the site, in sub-folders
  
  
• "just_fun" - contains HTML and PDF files for the "Just For Fun" section
  
  
• "orderform" - holds all order forms for the site.
  
  
• "publication" - contains HTML and PDF files for publications, in sub-folders
  
  
• "rules" - contains the rules governing the creation of the site - like this page
  
  
• "special_reports" - contains any special reports that are topical and accessible primarily from the Home Page. An example is the special report on September 11.
  
  
• "web_resource" - contains all HTML and PDF files related to the "Web Resources" section of the site
  
  
• "zglobl" - contains the server side include files referenced by every page in the site. Modify these files with extreme caution.
  
  
• "_notes" - this is only used by Dreamweaver and does NOT appear on the server

In addition to the folders named above, only the following free-floating files should exist in the "www" folder.

• "index.shtml" - the Home Page
  
  
• "RSstyle.css" - the Cascading Style Sheet for the entire site
  
  
• "search_tips.htm" - ti[s for using the site-wide search engine

There should be NO other loose files. If new files must be added, they should "live" in the directory most applicable to the content of the file.

Below is additional directory information for the most complicated directories.

archive

This directory contains all of the past issues of the Rethinking Schools journal that have been converted to HTML.

Each issue lives in its own folder, titled with the volume and number of the issue. For example, "16_01" means volume 16, number 1. Inside the folder, the main directory for each issue follows the same convention. For example, "16_01.htm" refers to the main directory page for volume 16, number 1. Article pages follow a similar naming convention, based on the name of the article and the issue volum and number. For example, "Vouc161.htm" refers to the article "Top 10 Voucher Supporters" found in the volume 16, number 1 issue of Rethinking Schools.

Another sub-folder, "rs_index" contains the Article Index and related pages. The main index page is "index_rs.htm".

Only two files appear at the top level of the "archive" folder:

• "curriss.htm" - the current issue of Rethinking Schools (duplicate file)
  
  
• "index.htm" - the directory of ALL Rethinking Schools Journals

img

This folder contains ALL GIF and JPEG files for the site in multiple sub-folders. The structure of these folders mirrors the structure of the site. There are NO LOOSE FILES in this folder. It contains only the following directories.

• "about" - supporting graphics for the "About" section
  
  
• "archive" - graphics for the issues - each in a sub-directory
  
  
• "art_index" - graphics for the Article Index pages
  
  
• "common" - graphics used throughout the web site - like the logo
  
  
• "just_fun" - graphics for the "Just For Fun" section
  
  
• "order" - graphics appearing on the order form and related pages
  
  
• "publication" - graphics for publication pages - in sub-directories
  
  
• "spec_reports" - graphics for any special report - in sub-directories
  
  
• "web_resource" - graphics for the "Web Resources" section

A few folders, like the "publication" folder are further sub-divided into other folders that match the main directory structure of the site, like "ebonics".

This structure makes it easieer to find a graphic for a specific page on the site.

publication

This folder contains the order form and sub-directories for each publication. Each sub-folder contains only HTML and PDF files related to that publication.

Graphics are NOT stored in here.

Templates

Templates control common elements that occur on every page of the site or a section of pages. This makes updating the site easier. However, template editing requires use of Dreamweaver and a special set-up.

Most pages are based on the base template: "RSbase.dwt" including this page. This template controls the header and footer of every page. Areas controlled by the template cannot be edited in Dreamweaver at a page level.

The header includes the logo, navigation bar, site-wide search, "crumbtrail" and page title. All but the "crumbtrail" are part of a server side include. Only the "crumbtrail" and page title are editable on a page level.

The footer contains the text navigation and copyright notices appearing at the bottom of the page. These elements are only editable by modifying the server side include file referenced by the template. See below for more information about SSI.

Templates should only be modified in Dreamweaver against an exact and complete copy of the entire site. This copy must match the directory structure desccribed above, including templates.

Editing any template will automatically modify all pages attached to that template, populating the changes through many pages at once. All of these pages will have to be uploaded to the server.

WARNING: Editing pages or templates outside of Dreamweaver will break this dependency and may destroy the integrity of the Rethinking Schools web site.

Cascading Style sheets

This site uses Cascading style sheets for all type formatting. The main CSS file is: RSstyle.css DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE. It includes defintions for how text is rendered throughout the entire site. CSS rules for Rethinking Schools

SSI Rules

Server Side Includes (SSI) are used for the header and footer of every page on this site. They are also used for any repeating element appearing throughout the site, such as the "Subscirbe" button and text on every Journal page.

A line of code appears on every page of the site. That code tells the browser to get the contents of another file and add them to this page. That other file may contain the code for anything that is the same on every page it is used.

The SSI code is part of every Dreamweaver templatae created for this site. If you use these templates, that code will be automatically included.

Because of the use of SSI, every page on the site should end with the extension ".shtml" If it does not, the server will not draw it correctly.

At launch of the new site, three include files were created: head.htm; foot.htm and subscriube.htm. Each of these contains ONLY the code for one small section of the site.

"head.htm" includes the code for the top logo, navigation bar and the search field and text.

"foot.htm" includes code for the footer that appears on every page. This includes the text navigation and the Rethinking Schools copyright, address, phone number and email address.

"subscribe.htm" contains the code for the "Subscribe" button and text appearing on every journal page.

These files do not include the usual <html><head><body> tags because they are NOT needed. Those tags are in the host page.

A change to any of these files will change the entire site. This makes changes to these parts of the site easy.

It also makes these files very dangerous. They should NOT be changed unless you NEED to modify this part of the entire site.